GTA VI Delay Dampens Hopes for 2025 Videogame Market Boom

The global videogame market’s growth rate is now expected to improve only marginally in 2025, primarily due to the GTA VI delay, according to a report by research firm Newzoo.

Analysts and industry experts had originally forecast a significant spike in industry growth this year, driven by the highly anticipated launch of Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto VI and new-generation gaming consoles.

However, the GTA VI delay to 2026, coupled with rising prices for videogame hardware caused by new tariffs, has cast uncertainty over consumer spending in 2025.

The global videogame market is now projected to grow 3.4% to $188.9 billion in 2025, compared with 3.2% last year, the report noted.

“This forecast reflects concrete changes, hardware cycles, pricing trends, install base growth, and title pipelines,” said Michiel Buijsman, principal analyst at Newzoo.

Newzoo’s updated projections estimate a compounded annual growth rate of 3.3% through 2027, down from an earlier forecast of 3.7%.

Industry Likely to Experience Sales Boost in 2026

With GTA VI now expected to launch in 2026, the industry will likely experience a major boost in sales next year, especially with the arrival of other premium titles like Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem.

The eventual PC release of GTA VI is also expected to sustain momentum and carry market growth into 2027, the report added.

Meanwhile, price hikes for Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation consoles have raised concerns about slower hardware sales, especially as global consumers face economic pressures. Despite this, Nintendo’s Switch 2 has become the company’s fastest-selling console.

“Xbox generally is falling further behind on Xbox One, so there will be more sales to come, but we don’t expect big numbers… we expect that the lifetime units of PS5 will still slightly trail PS4,” said Buijsman.

To boost its hardware portfolio, Xbox recently introduced its own handheld device, the Xbox Ally, in collaboration with ASUS, with a holiday 2025 release planned.